It's complete nonsense to have this back and forth bickering between both parties. Isn't ATS the place where we are supposed to be suspicious of
anyone in power, where we want the facts rather than daily tabloid reports, where we are supposed to rise above ignorance and come together to agree
on something???

As far as I'm concerned, and as far as we have figured out here on ATS, the entire government entity is operating at a level where criminals will not
be jailed, and those with true knowledge will "commit suicide", be silenced, paid, etc... To imagine only "reps" or "dems" are innocent or
guilty takes doing mental gymnastics to an entirely different level.

I really hope this message resonates with at least one person. I know tomorrow the hottest topic is going to be "Trump is 100% factually guilty" or
"100% factually innocent" yet again, but if at least one person can realize this is a complete waste of time... I think this place will have gotten
that much better.

Within a few months of drastically reducing my participation in political banter, I got a new/better job, and started my own business which is set to
open in a couple of weeks.

When I'd read divisive political tabloids more often, I wasn't in a growing mindset, I was more "triggered" as many people are/seem to be now days. I
needed to jump in and attack, jump in and defend. Now I mostly sit back and chime in if I feel like I have the time

What you said is the exact reason that I doubt anything happens with all of these investigations. If you take one non scapegoat person down; then all
the rest will come down too. That will not be allowed to happen. Both sides have many skeletons in their closets. We, the people, only learn a
little tidbit of what is going on in Washington. Never enough to really change the culture. This is what we are stuck with no matter what your
philosophy or political leaning may be.

Isn't ATS the place where we are supposed to be suspicious of anyone in power,

That was my impression too. Suspicious. Allowing for the possibility that whatever our own biases are, they might be wrong, or at least not the whole
truth and nothing but the truth.

However Deadly, there seems to be at least one faction on these boards who will not even consider let alone be suspicious of one specific man in
power. And to my mind, another faction that has resorted to the same stultifying intractability in their own position making attempts to point out
all the examples of why we might all question him more thoroughly.

The most recent spurge of firings and leavings from the WH are all met with a ridged wall of defensiveness that is impenetrable. The bending over
backwards, the justifications used to continue the unquestioning support of that man is stupendous.

I'ts almost as if they are trying to build a ''wall'' of defense around that man. Funny in a way. Build the wall around him so that he can be safe
from all who even question his veracity.

I"m sorry if this reply fits into the ''division'' you have addressed in your OP, but sadly this is all I can come up with to add to your OP.

originally posted by: narrator
This is exactly why I joined. Let's get away from "fake news" on both sides, and dig into what the facts ARE, not what we want the facts to be.

Difficult when the definition of "fake news" to most people is news or just opinions they do not like. Sadly, ATS does not live up to its motto of
"Deny Ignorance." Rather, it promotes it. There are no standards of proof here. ATS is a news aggregator site that posts "news" from other sites like
Drudge and adds opinions around the edges. It's rare to get a well-thought essay on here because, well, why bother when every ignorant twelve year old
figures he can argue with you? Plus, your well-thought piece can be removed at a moment's notice with no explanation.

I'd argue, though admit an amount of ignorance myself, that "facts" are hardly a concrete thing - Only a person that committed an action or witnessed
something knows exactly how/when/what happened in any scenario - Only the person that committed the action itself knows the exact intention, motive,
the "why"

Therefore what's bothering me is not exactly that we don't find 100% truth here, but that articles equivalent to tabloids make the front page daily,
and people become polarized on these tabloid-like topics. There's hardly an attempt to seek out truth from those that commit/witness events ( I admit
this isn't a cut and dry process ) it's more "Some random FBI person said " or "High ranking officials say" - This terminology is becoming completely
useless. Anyone can say whatever they want about something because there's really nothing that can be done to punish them ( And I'm not sure there
should be, but still. )

Last week Trump was definitely getting impeached and sentenced to jail forever because of undeniable proof.

This week, Dems + Reps have access to the same information that shows he's definitely innocent and has never done wrong in his life.

Next week... Who knows.

There definitely seems to be no attempt to sort out facts from fiction, though - It's biases, bandwagons, echo chambers combated with strawmen,
cherry-picking, ambiguity, etc..

It's complete nonsense to have this back and forth bickering between both parties. Isn't ATS the place where we are supposed to be suspicious of
anyone in power, where we want the facts rather than daily tabloid reports, where we are supposed to rise above ignorance and come together to agree
on something???

As far as I'm concerned, and as far as we have figured out here on ATS, the entire government entity is operating at a level where criminals will not
be jailed, and those with true knowledge will "commit suicide", be silenced, paid, etc... To imagine only "reps" or "dems" are innocent or guilty
takes doing mental gymnastics to an entirely different level.

I really hope this message resonates with at least one person. I know tomorrow the hottest topic is going to be "Trump is 100% factually guilty" or
"100% factually innocent" yet again, but if at least one person can realize this is a complete waste of time... I think this place will have gotten
that much better.

To the rest of you.. Carry on, I suppose.

The problem is that our media Pundits and experts and politicians keep this scam/game going. As long as people on ATS listen to these idiots and
repost poliitical memes on facebook this game will continue. Only when we stop being brainwashed will we truly be free to see the truth. That
depends on each of you willingly cutting your media cords.

It's all just light entertainment on ATS anyway and like you said filled with tabloid news, tabloid posts, tabloid people.

But as a resource for themes, ideas, and totally off the wall concepts, it's unsurpassed. People just don't know how creative they are....you have to
gleen thru a mound of sh!t to find the diamonds, but they're there.....

I suppose it should have been put in the rant section - I certainly don't feel intelligent, and capable of intelligent discourse right now, I'm tired
as hell and just looked at the main stories on the front page, which added just a slight bit of headache to my already tired headache, ha.

Regardless of where it's posted, the point still stands - ATS is becoming a dumping grounds for tabloid articles and extreme positions. I really
wonder how many neutral/libertarian posts have made the front page lately....

Non partisan comments are probably the least stared. I think that tells you somethibf about what the community has become.

It's two teams on here now. And it's rare you see someone speak against something the team has done.

It's kind of ridiculous. I'm a registered independent and will probably never vote for one of the two main parties again. Both are too corrupt.
And it boggles my mind how brainwashed people are. Willingly brainwashed. We used to have a term for that when I was growing up...stupid. LOL

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